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"Never Gone" |
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Our 1954 class website gives us an added way to keep in touch, and to do so in a more timely way than our Smith Quarterly. We thought we might begin by sharing profiles of friends who have died since our last reunion in May 2009.
| Ezit A. Wooster Newcomb | of Upper Montclair, N.J. entered Smith in the fall of 1950 and was assigned to 150 Elm St. She was listed as an ex-member of 1954 in our senior yearbook and by our 25th reunion was living in Chester, N.J., married to William K. Newcomb. He predeceased her. Ezit (“Tez”) loved reading, travel, and gourmet cooking. When she died in Linwood, N.J. on June 22, 2011, she left behind three children and their spouses: Anne Conlon Crawford (David), Robin L. Newcomb (Ed), and William K. Newcomb, Jr. (Lynn) as well as six grandchildren: Darren, William III, Lisa, Daniel, Rachel, and Emily. Ezit was buried at the Spring Grove Cemetery in Darien, CT, June 25, following a graveside service. |
| Elizabeth Tygert Anderson | and Leonard raised five children in a New Jersey suburb before changing their lives in a move to a 100-acre farm near Gettysburg, PA. Here they organized the “Anderson Arboretum,” a Christmas tree farm that brought adult children to help plant thousands of evergreen varieties. Meanwhile, Betty began an association with Gettysburg College, first as a special events coordinator, and later office manager of the college Chapel. Another move, after selling the farm, took Len and Betty to the Berkshires and a smaller house in the town of Dalton. In our 50-year reunion book Betty said: “I am excited to be nearer to Smith, so that I can drive over to events, concerts, and lectures.” Betty died in June 2011. She is survived by her five children – Leonard, Bruce, Judy (Smith 1981), Maryelen, and Gordon – eleven grandchildren and her husband of 56 years . |
| Joyce Gilman Altman | My dear friend and classmate, Joyce Gilman Altman, died on June 1, 2011. She From Nat Levine Brenner |
| Caroline Penniman Wohlforth | died at home in Anchorage, Alaska, on April 18, 2011, of metastatic breast cancer, surrounded by her family. After graduation, Caroline lived in New York City where she received an MA from NYU. She and Eric were married in 1957, and with their two sons, moved to Anchorage in 1966. from Kathatine Edgar Fleming |
| Jane Russell Stoneman | was born September 27, 1932 in North Andover, MA, daughter of William Augustus and Elisabeth Wyatt Russell. One of five children, she developed a life-long love for animals at an early age. She graduated from Abbott Academy in 1950, excelling in athletics. After attending Smith College, where she lived in Park House Annex, she chose a career in nursing and received a diploma from Columbia University—Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing. Jane worked for nearly 40 years as a labor and delivery registered nurse in New York City and Westchester County, NY, while raising eight children. Later in life she moved to Beaufort, SC, where she worked as a nurse and then veterinary technician at Holly Hall and Sea Island Animal Hospitals. Under the name of Sea Island Labradors, she became a respected breeder of English Labradors, who enriched the lives of countless families in the Beaufort area and beyond. She had many devoted friends in the Beaufort area. She was the proud owner of a Tennessee Walker, who provided her with immense joy in the final years of her life. She led an active lifestyle and was an avid sports fan, voracious reader, needlepointer, and lover of opera and musicals of all genres. Jane was a much beloved mother of nine children by her former husband Christopher Greek Stoneman (deceased): Mark (deceased), Jonathan, Elizabeth, Andrew (deceased), Nicholas, Timothy, Christopher, Jennifer, and Victoria. Together, her children, seven grandchildren, and animals completed her life. After her death on January 31, 2011, the family organized a celebration of her life for early spring. |
| Pamela Neill Collins | died in Vero Beach, Florida on September 29, 2010 after a yearlong heroic battle with incurable cancer. Born in Berlin, Pam came with her family to the US in 1939 and settled in Montclair, NJ. where she graduated from Kimberly Academy. At Smith, she spent her junior year in Paris, graduated with high honors and settled in NYC where in 1956, she married Richard Collins. In the city, she balanced an active family life (5 children), volunteer work including NY Jr. League Board and career, later becoming a successful real estate broker. She also earned a degree with honors from the NY School of Interior Design. In 1995 the Collins moved to John’s Island, where Pam enjoyed welcoming family/ friends, volunteer activities, golf and especially bridge, achieving a Bronze Life Master status. She will be remembered for her incredible beauty, intellect, style, energy, talent, curiosity, loyalty, generosity and love for family and friends. Pam is survived by her husband, one daughter, four sons, nine grandchildren, one sister and nieces/nephews. from Wendy Shea Randall |
| Joanna (Jo) Taub Steichen | came to Smith from Hopewell Junction, N.Y., a graduate of the St. Agnes School. She majored in Theatre and lived in Dawes House. Afterwards, in New York City, Jo wrote commercials and other ads for Young and Rubicam, got her pilot’s license, “got airplane, lost airplane, got a seaplane license.” In 1960, Jo married Edward Steichen and was grounded—no more flying attempts. Instead, she worked with her husband on photography exhibitions and the preparation of his book A Life in Photography for publication, proudly watching him receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963. Ten years later Steichen died. Jo completed an M.S. in Social Work from Columbia and became a clinical teacher and psychotherapist in New York City for the next 25 years. Then her focus turned to preserving her husband’s work. She chose 340 of his best photographs and wrote the text for Steichen’s Legacy, published in 2000 by Alfred A. Knopf. She designated the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York as the repository for his archives. Her last editing project, Steichen in Color, was due to be released by Sterling in September 2010. Jo’s last years centered on coping with Parkinson’s Disease. She died July 24, 2010 at her summer home in Montauk, N.Y. |
| Nancy Cravens Chamberlain | a native Houstonian, graduated from Chatham Hall in Chatham, Va. before attending Smith, where she lived in Comstock House. For 22 years, Nancy was married to Dr. Charles Devere Chamberlain, Jr. His medical training and service in the Army took the couple to Philadelphia; Hiroshima, Japan; and back to Philadelphia before settling in Houston. Four children—Anne (who died in 2002), Mary, Laura, and Charles—were born to the Chamberlains. In 1975, Nancy completed her Bachelor’s degree in History at the University of Houston, and in 1985 received an MA in English Literature there. An avid volunteer, Nancy taught adult literacy classes, tutored elementary students, serving as archivist for the Houston Symphony, and counseled alcoholics and drug addicts. For our 40th reunion book, she wrote: “For pure pleasure I go to the log house in Colorado that my children and I built in 1987, where I can be alone with silence and nature. I also do a lot of writing, and I knit and design intricately colored sweaters.” Nancy thrived on visits from her grandchildren. She died at home July 19, 2010. |
| Katherine Tobin Gute (Kitty) | and husband, Dan of 53 years, died together at home on July 18 in Milwaukee. A graduate of Milwaukee Downer Seminary, Kitty spent her junior year in Geneva and when illness forced her to leave Smith’s Morrow House during her senior year, she returned to graduate in 1955. Kitty had served on many community Boards including the Junior League of Milwaukee, the UW-Milwaukee Foundation, the Green Tree Garden Club, the Riveredge Nature Center and the Wisconsin Nature Conservancy. She loved gardening and the environment and taught children at her nature center for over 20 years. A wonderful athlete, Kitty had twice won her golf club’s championship. She’ll be remembered for her warmth, wit, energy and enthusiasm, her devotion to family and friends and her caring and commitment for the strong, the right and the true. She is survived by her three daughters, three sons-in-law and 10 grandchildren. from Wendy Shea Randall '54-Roomate |
| Jacqueline Jones Foster (Jacque) | of Perrysburg, Ohio, came to Smith after Chatham Hall. An art history and American studies major, she lived in Talbot House. With humor, she recounted living in five locations (Cambridge, Mass; Nashville; St. Louis; Charlotte, N.C., and Westwood, Mass.) before returning to Perrysburg. Jacque was married to the late Dr. Hugh M. Foster, Jr. from 1956 to 1976.The couple had three children (Scott, Catherine, and Blair)of whom Jacque wrote in our 50th reunion book: “My three children and their families are joys, and I try to stay connected to their lives…I love them, consider them friends and am proud of them.” For more than 40 years Jacque was a docent at the Toledo Museum of Art who “offered visitors a new way of seeing.” She stressed the importance of research for docents, “meaning we all had our facts right, so that we were representing the museum professionally [and] with great care.” Through a museum-educators program, of multiple visits, she helped high school students grasp how American art can bring history and literature to life. On July 13, 2010 Jacque Foster died of cancer in Hospice of Northwest Ohio. |
Martha de Mey |
grew up in Columbus, OH, and came to Smith from Stamford, Conn., after attending The Roedean School in Brighton, England the year before. An art major, she lived in Hopkins B. At Smith she was active in the Glee Club and went on the Chamber Singers’ European tour in the summer of 1954. She met her husband, Jack Clow, in San Francisco, and lived her whole adult life in the Bay area, where her five children were born. Micky became a serious writer, producing Starbreed (a science fiction novel) in 1970, and volunteering for many school-related tasks. Founder of and performer in both the Patriot Players acting troupe and the Ross Valley Players, she also designed and built the 1977 Ross School playground. She loved to play the piano, pioneered in desktop publishing, and read voraciously. She died June 16, 2010, following a four-year battle with breast cancer. She is survived by her five children and nine grandchildren. |
| Sabra Kent Drohan | attended the Anna Head School in Berkeley, Cal. before entering Smith. A history major, she lived in Washburn House. She toured Europe and worked in summer stock theater after college, then took a job in advertising in San Francisco. She then moved to New York, working in advertising and then CBS. Sabra married Thomas E. Drohan in 1956 and three years later they moved to Tiburon, Cal. Here the couple’s four children (Tom Jr., Sabra, Michele, and Daniel) grew up. Their mother was an ardent and popular community organizer and fund raiser, an avid competitive bridge player, and enthusiastic traveler. She died June 14, 2010, at a Modesto hospital after suffering a heart attack at the family’s ranch near Columbia in the Sierra foothills, two days before her 77th birthday. Sabra’s husband died in 1984; survivors include her children, six grandchildren, her sister Margaret von der Linde of Basking Ridge, N.J., and a brother, Edward Kent of Redwood, Cal. |
| Virginia (Ginny) Burnett Jordan | entered Smith from Southampton, Long Island High School. A government major, she lived in Franklin King. By 1964, married to Geoffrey Jordan, Ginny was living in England (Amersham, Bucks.) and regretted not getting back to Smith reunions. By our 25th the Jordans were even farther away, in Melbourne, Australia, where Ginny was secretary to her husband (CEO of a firm). Daughter Juliet (23) was at the London Academy of Music and Drama; son Michael (21) at Birmingham University. Cut to 1994, which saw the Jordans back in Amersham, Bucks., England and grandparents to “two adorable grandsons.” Ginny was enjoying gardening “and all the grandmotherly things like making costumes and Hallowe’en shaped cookies.” For our 50-year reunion book Ginny reported that daughter Juliet (Smith ’77) referred to her mother as “DFA” for an inquiring journalist, who didn’t ask that it be spelled out. Ginny laughed heartily at the title Juliet had given her: “Director of Family Affairs.” We last heard from Ginny for the Summer 2010 Quarterly class news column. She reported that she and her husband planned a move to Leicester to be closer to their son,.Mike, and grandchildren Alec (17) and Genevieve (12). Ginny died on June 7, 2010. |
| Georgia Hertzman Pampel | came to Smith from the Faulkner School for Girls in Chicago, lived in Baldwin House, stayed a year and completed her B.A. in Music at the University of Michigan. She spent 12 years on the editorial staff of Time in New York; married and had two children. In 1995 Georgia, who had been divorced, moved to Rockford, Ill. to be near her sister. There she became the music critic for a local paper. Her daughter, attorney Martha Pampel, and her husband Dean West live in Chicago and were on hand to assist as Georgia grew ill in the spring of 2010. They and her son were with her when she died May 13, 2010. |
| Polly Jamieson Meara | grew up in Trenton, N.J., attended Miss Fine’s School, and at Smith lived in Dewey House, and was a Government major. After graduation, she went to work in Washington, D.C. for the National Security Agency. She was an avid reader, had an abiding interest in politics, and a deep love for the beach. She volunteered at the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center and the Trenton Library. Polly died April 12, 2010, She is survived by her husband, Edward F. Meara III, their five children and five grandchildren, two sisters and a sister-in-law. |
| Virginia Brane Schulz | came to Smith from Yonkers and The Halstead School. Jinny lived in Northrop House and was a Psychology major. After graduation, she married Charles Schulz, and attended Radcliffe Management School as he went through Harvard Law School. The couple moved to San Francisco and produced three children. By 1994 Jinny had divorced and “contentedly single” was Database Manager at Disney Information Services (“a huge electronic library”) in Palo Alto. Her first grandson, Matthew Schulz, was born in February that year. At her next writing for our 2004 book, her older son had marked his 25th college reunion from Cornell, her daughter Jincy Knight had served as a Navy ER physician in Afganistan, Jinny was still working (for Dialog) in the Silicon Valley, and her nine-year-old grandson Matthew was living nearby. Jinny died February 27, 2010. |
| Bettina Reed MacAyeal | entered Smith from Lake Forest, Ill., where she had attended Ferry Hall. An English language and literature major, at Smith she lived in Gardiner House. After graduation from Barnard, she wrote, “Howard [MacAyeal] and I lived in Boston for three years where he attended Harvard Law School and our first child, Doug, was born.” Later they moved to Cincinnati, where his work with a chemical firm meant overseas travel, which she shared often. By 1979, Tina was divorced, living in Cleveland, a college librarian, with Doug in graduate school as a budding glaciologist, Berry a college junior and Jean at Chatham Hall. In 1994, Tina was newly retired from an editorship with the American Library Association, and back in Chicago. Tina died November 28, 2009. |
| D(orothy) Sue McCulloch Brittingham | graduated from R.L. Paschial High School, Fort Worth, Tex. At Smith, she lived in Washburn House. Sue married Yale graduate Dan Grigsby Poland, Jr. The couple had three children: Grigsby, Susan, and Jenny. A four-month vacation to Aspen, Colo. with her children in 1963 (as a single parent with a summer job) ignited Sue’s interest in “the glorious weather and the beautiful mountains.” In 1964 she began a job with Aspen Meadows and moved her family there. Later Sue married rancher John Brittingham, making trips from eastern Colo. to Colorado Springs, where she volunteered with the Junior League, Civitan, the Fine Arts Center, and the Colorado Springs School, among others. Sue died October 27, 2009, following a long illness. Survivors include her brother, John McCulloch, her three children, and three granddaughters: Cassidy, Stacey, and Avery. |
Catherine Parsons Smith |
came to Smith from Rochester, N.Y., where she attended Brighton High School. She was a European history major and lived in Albright. “Although I was a history major, I never gave up the flute, and after my marriage in 1955 to Ross W. Smith, I returned to Northwestern for a master’s in flute performance. There followed a period of childbearing and rearing (boy, girl, boy, all healthy) in which I took considerable delight.” Obtaining a Doctorate in Musical Arts from Stanford (1969) gave her the means to combine loves of history and music, and opened the academic career that followed in Reno, Nev. Early on she produced books on historical flute methods, and then four major books on American composers Mary Carr Moore and William Grant Still, plus a host of articles and presentations to professional associations to present her findings. Her death September 1, 2009 occurred following a recurrence of breast cancer. Survivors include her children, five grandchildren, and partner of ten years, retired Brooklyn College sociologist Paul Charosh. |
| Jeanne Hawes Faulkner | entered Smith from Chatham Hall. She grew up in New Canaan, Conn., and lived in Hubbard House, majoring in history. Next she lived in New Haven, was a docent at the Yale University Art Gallery, and married Winthrop Faulkner in 1955. Following Army service (CIA) and completion of his graduate study in architecture at Yale, they and three children moved to Chevy Chase, Md. and then into Washington, DC. Jeanne died August 8, 2009. |
| Prudence Luneburg Ross | grew up in Whitman, Mass., where she attended Whitman High School before entering Smith. An economics major, she lived in Wallace House. Married Donald Ross in June 1955, lived in Cleveland for eight years, producing three children (Janette, Julie, and Peter) before moving to Lebanon, N.H. Here Prue became a volunteer and a teacher in the public school music program. She died June 14, 2009. |